Bengaluru: 11 bonded labourers rescued in KG Halli

All the bonded labourers were aged between 16 and 43 and hail from Madhubani, Sitamarhi and Darbhanga districts in Bihar.

A shoe manufacturing unit being raided in K.G. Halli for employing bonded labourers.

Bengaluru: Eleven bonded labourers were rescued from a shoe manufacturing unit from Govindpura in K.G. Halli on Wednesday by the Bangalore Urban District Administration and local police, assisted by International Justice Mission (IJM) and APSA CHILDLINE.

A supervisor was taken into custody from the factory, which was manufacturing shoe soles, and a case has been registered at the KG Halli Police Station on Thursday under Section 370, IPC (Trafficking of Persons) and the Bonded Labour (Abolition) Act, 1976. The two owners, who also are siblings, and two traffickers, including the lead trafficker, are yet to be arrested.

All the bonded labourers were aged between 16 and 43 and hail from Madhubani, Sitamarhi and Darbhanga districts in Bihar. They were trafficked to Bengaluru by six different traffickers and later employed at different factories for periods ranging from three months to four years. They were brought here at the behest of the lead trafficker, who also hails from Bihar and has been residing in the city for several years.

The labourers were promised Rs 6,000 as wages and their families were given advances ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 6,000 to lure them. They were also promised good living and working conditions and food, but all those promises were not kept.

None of the labourers received their promised wages or the prescribed minimum wages which is Rs 7068.26 per month in this industry. The owners and traffickers kept promising the workers that their wages will be paid soon but it was never done.